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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. key — for a lock
  3. bound — tied together
  4. game — a match
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. press — to push
  8. game — wild animals
  9. press — a publisher
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. bound — obliged
  12. cold — not warm
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. bound — certain
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pass — a permit
  17. key — in music
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. cold — an illness
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. branch — a division
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. press — newspapers

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com